The Art Schools Of The Ming Dynasty
Zhejiang school of painting (浙派, full name in Chinese: 浙江畫派)
Started by Dai Jin (戴進), Wu Wei (吳偉), Lan Ying (藍瑛) (Lan family)
Greatly influenced by the Southern Song Style and practised Ma-Xia styles of painting. Lan Ying was the last master of this school, along with his family members, they formed a branch of Zhejiang School—Wulin School because their family was located in Wulin (武林), a place in Hangzhou near the West Lake. Most of the painters from this school, are Zhejiang natives.
Yuanti School (院體畫派)
Lin Liang (林良), Lü Ji (呂紀)
This school was organized and supported by the Ming central government, and it served for Ming royal court. The activity centre for this school first was in Nanjing and then went to Beijing because of the change of Ming's capital. The
Wumen School (吳門畫派)
Tang Yin (唐寅), Wen Zhengming (文徵明), Shen Zhou (沈周), Qiu Ying (仇英), Zhou Chen (周臣)
The Wumen school practised a much more different adaptation of art. They did not follow the concept of scholarly academic painting and instead approached a more expressive form of art.
The primary location for this school was Suzhou, whose literary name was Wumen (吳門). Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming, Shenzhou and Qiu Ying, these four painters also were regarded as the "Big Four of the Ming Period" in Ming period painting.
Xieyi Huaniao (寫意花鳥)
Xu Wei (徐渭)
Xieyi Shangshui (寫意山水)
Chen chun (陳淳)
Songjiang School (松江畫派)
Dong Qichang (董其昌)
The core place for this school was in the southern part of Jiangsu Province at that time, but now part of Shanghai. During the late Ming dynasty, the Songjiang School rivalled Wumen, particularly in generating new theories of painting.